San Francisco Housing Authority CEO Tonia Lediju, appointed by former Mayor London Breed in 2021 to oversee the embattled affordable housing agency, left her post this week and “is no longer affiliated” with the department, sources said.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, after publication, a representative from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development said that Dan Adams, the director of the MOHCD, will take on Lediju’s role temporarily.
Anne Stanley, the MOHCD spokesperson, declined to comment on the reason for Lediju’s departure, but said she had “stepped away” from her role. Adams, Stanley said, will “continue to work on increasing program alignment and coordination between the two agencies.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie, in a brief statement, did not say why Lediju left but said he was “grateful for her leadership and service.”
Calls and messages to Lediju were not answered by publishing time. As of Tuesday evening, her profile on the Housing Authority’s Executive Staff page had been taken down.
Over the past decade, the San Francisco Housing Authority, which provides approximately $460 million in federal housing subsidies to low-income families per year, has come under fire for financial mismanagement and poor maintenance of the public housing complexes in San Francisco still run by the Housing Authority — a dwindling number.
Currently, the Housing Authority is only a part of the ownership structure at Plaza East Apartments and North Beach Place.
In 2019, the San Francisco Housing Authority was placed under direct oversight by the San Francisco city government, to restructure the agency and reallocate nearly $7 million in funding after a whopping $30 million deficit was discovered through an audit recorded by HUD.
After discovering the deficit, HUD demanded the city take over the San Francisco Housing Authority.
Lediju, then in the controller’s office and serving as the city’s chief auditor, was tapped to manage that restructuring and drag the Housing Authority out of financial ruin. She did so, and was awarded with the role of CEO of the organization two years later by Breed.
But since Lediju’s hiring, the San Francisco Housing Authority hasn’t been completely out of the woods.
Public housing tenants at Plaza East, where the Housing Authority still has ownership, and at Potrero Terrace and Annex, which is currently undergoing renovation, have complained of black mold, squatting, fires, and dismal living conditions.
The San Francisco Housing Authority’s role, too, is smaller than it used to be nearly a decade ago. Nearly all public housing complexes in San Francisco formerly owned by the Housing Authority are now privately owned and managed, and the Housing Authority’s remaining role at Plaza East Apartments and North Beach Place is minimal.
Recently, Lediju, a Vallejo resident for the past 15 years, has explored other pursuits. She ran unopposed for city council of District 3 in Vallejo last year, and won; her term expires in 2029. Lediju ran under the promise of providing “affordable, equitable, and inclusive housing for all.”
The annual salary for Vallejo city council members is approximately $23,500. Tonia Lediju’s salary as CEO of the San Francisco Housing Authority was more than $300,000 in 2024.
In an interview with the Vallejo Sun while running for city council, Lediju said she was prepared to take on the job because of her breadth of experience in housing at the San Francisco Housing Authority and as San Francisco’s chief auditor.
It is wild that she kept this job for any period of time while being an elected Vallejo council person. Any normal person would have immediately resigned.
Maybe Shamann Walton can join her on their council when he’s finally off our board of supervisors.
Not really. In this town, it’s how business is conducted. It’s a churn of mission creep falling between apathy and incompetence to outright fraud.
Vallejo City Council is a less than part time role. Note the pay of $23K. It’s essential volunteer night/weekend work.
This just goes to show the level of cronyism that is pervasive here in San Francisco and our former mayor was at the top of her game when it came to stacking the city with her friends in cronies
$422,657.07 Total pay and benefits in 2024 . Good for her . Need to tax the rich more
Aren’t department heads supposed to be electors of the City and County of San Francisco?
That whole department is completely corrupt and HAS been for decades now.
Not to make it a race issue, but I recall when my family was on Section 8, we attended those yearly mandated check-in meetings and were treated in such a condescending manner, but their own people were not.
It’s time to take a good hard look and find someone who isn’t looking out for only black or white to run that place.
Campers,
Best person to lead this agency is Don Falk whom Breed forced out of tndc.
After which, a half dozen agencies rushed to place him on their Boards.
Whomever they choose cannot be a worse manager than Executive Director Jim Jones who murdered 900 SF tenants.
go Niners !!
h.
I’d expect another figurehead whose staff sells places in line for cash.
Surprise me, Daniel.
He retired fromTNDC after nearly 30 years with them.
I don’t think Daniel Lurie much likes surprises.
Lediju didn’t quit – she was “quitted”, in much the same way that people that go missing don’t always “disappear” they are “disappeared”. Her exit follows the sudden exit of their head of legal and HR. Whatever is going on there is political, and I would bet everything that the new mayor’s is involved. He’s planning something for the agency, and it stinks.
I thought Ed Lee wanted to get rid of the Housing Authority because of the lack of maintenance and substandard conditions. Lee didn’t want the city to get sued to make all the repairs needed to maintain all the subsidized housing like lack of heating or leaking roof or no plumbing. They rid all their employees about five years ago and those employees were absorbed by other city departments. Why in the heck would they keep a director, oh, hold it, the Galileo alumni who grew up in the projects, who was having friends live fat on the city’s dime. The Housing Authority properties were sold or given to “non profits “ to run. That’s what I remember and I’m sticking to it.
Thanks for reporting
Everyone deserves to be paid but sf government salaries are out of whack .
Really getting taking advantage of here by what taxpayers are paying for .
Drug dens , garbage , and providing for those from out of town or who are too lazy to move and find a job
Yet taxpayers cannot even be able to use sidewalks or go out in neighborhoods like lower polk; larkin or tenderloin without having to confront the vagrants bums addicts , free loaders thugs and idiots who have”rights” and are allowed to destroy the area for their own selfish destructive behaviors .
Really tired of the grift .
Sf is not a compassionate city .
Welfare central wow is me wins here .
That is why this city is still destroyed and will not comeback .